ALONG THE ROAD

          ALONG THE ROAD

“Along THE ROAD” is a short 8-line poem written by the American poet Robert Browning Hamilton (1867-1950). He was not a prolific writer, yet this one tiny poem about ‘Pleasure’ and ‘Sorrow’ made him famous.  It reads as follows:

I WALKED a mile with Pleasure;

She chattered all the way,

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

 

I walked a mile with Sorrow

And ne’er a word said she;

But oh, the things I learned from her

When Sorrow walked with me!

Though the poem is short, its interpretation can be as long as the interpreter wants that to be. What is the difference between ‘Pleasure, and ‘Sorrow’ and which of the two is better.  The poet says when her co-walker chattered with Pleasure a mile’s distance, she left him none the wiser; but when he walked with Sorrow and she never said a word, he learnt a lot of things from her.

 

            Sorrow is thus a great teacher.  It makes us wiser.

Here are two quotations one each on pleasure and sorrow in support of poet’s viewpoint.

            “A life merely of pleasure. or chiefly of pleasure, is always a poor and worthless life, not worth the living; always unsatisfactory in its course, always miserable in the end.” Theodore Parker, American Theologist (1810-1860).

 

 

            Sorrows are our best educators.  A man can see further through a tear than a telescope. Lord Byron, English poet (1788-1824).  

                                               

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G.R. Kanwal

24^th August 2023